Bethel shut off a home's water to stop raw sewage, and the resident turned it back on

Raw sewage is still reaching the ground at a home on Akiak Drive in Bethel, and the city's effort to stop it has hit a wall. The city cut off the home's water on Aug. 12 to keep it from feeding the discharge, according to a report going before the City Council on Friday. The next day, the city says, it found the resident had reconnected the water without authorization.

So by the city's account, the water is back on and the sewage still has nowhere treated to go. The city calls the conditions a public-health hazard and is asking the council to declare the property a nuisance and let it move to force a fix.

The home's wastewater system has broken or failed, spilling untreated sewage onto the ground. The city notified the owner in late July and issued citations before shutting off the water. The agenda packet contains no response from the owner, and his account of the shutoff and the reconnection is not in the record.

The case joins a backlog of dozens of nuisance properties before the council, which can order repairs or demolition and place a lien to recover the cost.